6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 1, 1966
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MULCHING STRAWBERRIES is one of the fall season'chores. Fred Funk
is shown feeding salt hay through the “bale buster” which spreads the mulch
over the six-acre berry crop. Strawberries, as every other crop on the Funk farm,
are planted on the contour. L. F. Photo
• Amos Funk
(Continued from Page 1)
Andy said, they harvested an
average of four pounds of
tom'atoes from each of the
seven-foot vines. This year an
average of six 'pounds is ex
pected, and they won’t be
satisfied until they reach
eight, pounds per vine. The
first picking of tomatoes was
in late October, and the
plants will continue to yield
u'ntil about the third week
itn January; then they will
make way for the next crop.
The Funks attribute their in
creased yield this y*ar to the
use of liquid fertilizer. This
is fed through seepage hoses,
also used for water. A mulch
of peanut hulls helps retain
the moisture, a vital ingredi
ent in hothouse tomato pro
duction. Tomatoes are picked
every Monday and Thursday,
and are sold mostly at retail
prices.
In another house, leaf let
tuce grows like a green car
pet. Six different plantings
•ii * .•
R .r,
safe..#*'
were m'ade this year, with
plants spaced nine inches
apart. This is 'not quite as
thick a planting as recom
mended hy some, Andy said,
but he feels they get bigger
and better plants this way.
It takes eight weeks to make
a lettuce crop under these
conditions, and as each crop
is hamested, bedding plants
are started. These consist of
petunias, snap dragons, man-
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Gap, Penna.
gold*, asters, and tomato
plants, with total production
amounting to 20,000 packs,
each containing one dozen
plants. The "lettuce house"
will be seeded partially f<sl*
bedding plants early in Jan
uary, with production going
full steam by early in Feb
ruary, Transplants will fill all
three houses.
Most of the bedding plants
Will be sold at the tarm; the
rest will be marketed through
regular wholesale and retail
channels. Rudy Giove, sales
m'anager at Funk’s, helps to
-decide what will be produced
•and where it will be sold.
Most of the products sold
away from the farm are re
tailed through farmers’ mar
kets at Lancaster and Lees
port, and at Root’s Auction.
Production of fall and win
ter vegetables is strictly a
sideline, Amos said; it helps
provide more year-round ac
tivity and sales. Funks -raise
all their own plants, includ
ing 9000 tom'atoes for staked
field plants.
The Funks also produce
their own seed for many of
the varieties they raise. Cel
ery, for example; they have
found that by selecting the
most desirable plants right
from the trenches they can
continue to upgrade the qual
ity of their celery. It is a
tedious job to produce celery
seed. After being selected,
the plants are potted and put
into the greenhouse this is
done 'between now and Feb
ruary. It takes until next
July or August to produce
the seed for the next year’s
crop. Seed used in 19 67 will
be produced in 1966.
Seed is also saved for the
yearly five acres of whlite
COCHRANVILLE
STEVENS
sweet corn the Funks ‘grow,
Amos 'said he has been, sav
ing seed ifrom this variety
since 1939. Each year, when
some new, high-powered hy
brid comes on the m'arket, he
runs comparison tests with
his own variety. He has yet
to find a new one that will
mature as early as his. “And
that extra two weeks’ jump
on the market is worth a lot,’'
he said.
For the past six to eight
years he has been following
the same 'procedure with,
sugar peas. The first year he
selected seed from about 25
plants which seemed resis
tant to “yellowing,’’ a con
dition which chionically af
fects sugar pea vines. The
following year, he selected
seed from the six most prom
ising plants of the second
generation. Thus selecting
from the best to get the best
is an ever-continuing process.
The Punk farm wasn’t al
ways noted for its vegetables
and plants. Originally, i Amos’
father and grandfather oper
ated it as a dairy. In the ear
ly 1930’5, -they gradually
started raising asparagus, and
eventually quit dairying alto
gether. Amos worked for his
father 'until 1950, when he
bought the 82-acre home
farm himseM. It Was entire
ly in vegetable production by
that time. Another Bft acres
was added in the Marticvilla
area to raise black raspberry
plants in relative isolation;
vegetable crops were .'added
later. Then in 1960, he rent
ed another 71 acres near the
home farm for red raspberry
production. In 196'5, lie
bought 'that acreage also. The
Funk farms noir total 242
(Continued on Pago 7)
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Elizabethtown
Kirkwood Feed & Groin
Kirkwood
Stevens Feed Mill, Inc.
Stevens, Penna.